Get Involved

Join in a FOCUS Forum

The first Forum of 2020 gave participants a voice in the year’s work. You can submit your ideas through a survey at thisLINK.

Attendance at FOCUS Forums roughly doubled year-over-year in 2019 driven by topics of vital interest to the community, coordination with like-minded organizations, and introductions to new leadership in city and county government, police, and broadcasting. Thank you to Syracuse University’s Office of Community Engagement and Thursday Morning Roundtable, WCNY, Leadership Greater Syracuse and National Grid, Onondaga Community College, Onondaga County, and the City of Syracuse for support and collaboration in these efforts.

FOCUS, which is the independent not-for-profit Forging Our Community’s United Strength, invites anyone with an interest in improving the quality of life in the Greater Syracuse area to bring ideas and questions that need answers to this launch for the new decade of FOCUS and Forums.

There are so many opportunities open here and now that the challenge for Greater Syracuse will be setting priorities and continued devotion to the work at hand. Come tell us where you want this community’s energy to go as the STEAM School and Syracuse Surge, I-81, the Southside Campus for the New Economy, Blueprint 15, and regional mega-warehouses and a statewide canal trail and lake loop are on the verge of becoming a reality. Building a more attractive welcoming, sustainable community and environmentally sound economy requires your focus.

FOCUS FORUMS

FOCUS Forums are free and open to the public. To learn about current Forums CLICK HERE.

CITIZENS ACADEMY

Our Citizens Academy also is a national-award-winning program that runs eight weeks in September and October. The class is chosen from applications received in June and July. To apply online beginning in June CLICK HERE.

CNY-CAN and Age Friendly Strategic Work Group

Participation in CNY-CAN (Central New York Citizens Aging Research and Action Network) community conversations and the Age Friendly Strategic Work Group also is free. To learn more about CNY-CAN CLICK HERE.

The Age-Friendly Strategic Work Group met Nov. 21, 2019, in the FOCUS conference room with the Chair of the NYS Senate Committee on Aging.

To read about the report Shaping an Age-Friendly Central New York CLICK HERE.

WISDOM KEEPERS

Our Wisdom Keeper event has traditionally been the sole fundraiser of the year for FOCUS, which is an independent not-for-profit organization recognized as a charitable institution under chapter 501 c 3 of the IRS tax code. To learn more about our Wisdom Keepers and the current event CLICK HERE.